Gate City boys beat Union, treat fans to another show
Feeding off the ear-splitting noise and intensity of the rabid fans at Gate City Middle School, the Gate City Blue Devils downed the Union Bears 82-47 Friday in a Mountain 7 District showdown.
A standing-room-only crowd formed in the gym at 5:30 p.m. for the 8:07 boys game while fans and media members were lined nearly 20 across behind the baskets and outside the gym doors. Over 50 more fans watched the action on a large video projection in the cafeteria.
The star of the thrill-packed show for GC was Bradley Dean, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard who canned seven 3-pointers en route to a 23-point night.
Dean did most his damage from the top of the key, with several of his bombs coming from the 30-foot range.
“I just have the confidence to shoot and I kind of showed out tonight,” Dean said. “That top of the key is definitely my favorite spot. Defenders are too close to me in the corner. And most of the time, teams are too worried about Mac [McClung] penetrating and is takes too long for them to get to me.”
As for the sticky defense of the Blue Devils, Dean said Gate City is improving with each game.
“We’re working hard in practice, especially on defense,” Dean said. “The closer we can get to being a familiar, the better our defense is going to be.”
Union (10-6, 5-2) frustrated Gate City with a zone defense in the earlier game at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, but the Blue Devils took advantage of that strategy Friday by hitting 14 3-pointers.
Gate City head Scott Vermillion was unable to coach due to VHSL rules after drawing two technicals in his last game, so assistant Keith Warner served the role as boss of the Blue Devils. Warner also filled in as head coach last year when Vermilion experienced a heart problem.
“This isn’t the way anybody wants to step into the head coaching role, but Coach Vermillion has groomed me and he trusts me,” Warner said. “I’ve been blessed to work with a coach like Scott.”
Warner knew what to expect from the Bears, and GC responded by hitting six treys in the first half.
“They’ve got long athletes and they extended our offense out,” Warner said. “We settled for outside shots early. We would have liked to attack more, but we’ve got some shooters. We’re getting better on offense, and we really played well on defense in the third quarter.”
The 30-year-old Warner, who scored over 1,000 points and led Twin Springs to the state tournament as a point guard, was recently named as the head coach of the Twin Springs football team.
McClung led GC with 30 points and 10 rebounds despite suffering what appeared to be a knee or leg injury in the fourth quarter.
“I think everybody stopped breathing there for a minute, but Mac just said he got a Charley Horse on the side of his thigh,” Warner said
Gate City opened a 15-6 lead behind the 3-point shooting of 6-foot-5 junior Zac Ervin (18 points) and Dean. McClung was able to split the defense for innovative drives.
While fans squeezed for more room in the humid gym, GC built a 22-10 margin in the opening seconds of second quarter on another deep 3-pointer from Dean followed by a step-back jumper from McClung.
The first half ended in style as the 6-2 McClung converted a lob pass from Dean to give the Blue Devils a 39-22 advantage. The Bears were hurt by 10 turnovers in the first two quarters.
Union star James Mitchell (18 points) was active for the Bears, snatching up offensive rebounds and elevating over defenders for baseline drives and hooks while running the offense. But Gate City (15-1, 9-0) quickly applied double pressure when Mitchell posted up in the paint.
Dean dropped a pair 3-pointers from the top of the key to put GC up 51-26 midway through the third quarter. The rest of the night was all fun for the Blue Devils.
Instead of making GC fans celebrate with exotic dunks, McClung did his damage with a quick first step and body control on athletic drives.
After GC built a 60-30 margin through three quarters, a few fans worked their way out of the gym. Those fans missed a two-handed McClung jam set up by a teammate who bounced the ball off the top of the backboard.
“Gate City can score in bunches. You try to limit that, but they went on some pretty big runs tonight and we just couldn’t stop the bleeding,” said Union coach Zack Moore. “Those deep 3s, and just the 3s in general, hurt. We’re not going to play too many teams that can hit 14 3-pointers, but we will give [Dean] those type of shots again.
“You can’t get into a scoring contest with Gate City. We played the zone to force Gate City to shoot and we hoped that they missed enough. But tonight they made most of their shots.”
Five-foot-seven freshman Austin Rasnick added 13 points for Union, which was outscored 22-8 in the third quarter.
- Allen Gregory | Bristol Herald Courier
- 11 hrs ago
Feeding off the ear-splitting noise and intensity of the rabid fans at Gate City Middle School, the Gate City Blue Devils downed the Union Bears 82-47 Friday in a Mountain 7 District showdown.
A standing-room-only crowd formed in the gym at 5:30 p.m. for the 8:07 boys game while fans and media members were lined nearly 20 across behind the baskets and outside the gym doors. Over 50 more fans watched the action on a large video projection in the cafeteria.
The star of the thrill-packed show for GC was Bradley Dean, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard who canned seven 3-pointers en route to a 23-point night.
Dean did most his damage from the top of the key, with several of his bombs coming from the 30-foot range.
“I just have the confidence to shoot and I kind of showed out tonight,” Dean said. “That top of the key is definitely my favorite spot. Defenders are too close to me in the corner. And most of the time, teams are too worried about Mac [McClung] penetrating and is takes too long for them to get to me.”
As for the sticky defense of the Blue Devils, Dean said Gate City is improving with each game.
“We’re working hard in practice, especially on defense,” Dean said. “The closer we can get to being a familiar, the better our defense is going to be.”
Union (10-6, 5-2) frustrated Gate City with a zone defense in the earlier game at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, but the Blue Devils took advantage of that strategy Friday by hitting 14 3-pointers.
Gate City head Scott Vermillion was unable to coach due to VHSL rules after drawing two technicals in his last game, so assistant Keith Warner served the role as boss of the Blue Devils. Warner also filled in as head coach last year when Vermilion experienced a heart problem.
“This isn’t the way anybody wants to step into the head coaching role, but Coach Vermillion has groomed me and he trusts me,” Warner said. “I’ve been blessed to work with a coach like Scott.”
Warner knew what to expect from the Bears, and GC responded by hitting six treys in the first half.
“They’ve got long athletes and they extended our offense out,” Warner said. “We settled for outside shots early. We would have liked to attack more, but we’ve got some shooters. We’re getting better on offense, and we really played well on defense in the third quarter.”
The 30-year-old Warner, who scored over 1,000 points and led Twin Springs to the state tournament as a point guard, was recently named as the head coach of the Twin Springs football team.
McClung led GC with 30 points and 10 rebounds despite suffering what appeared to be a knee or leg injury in the fourth quarter.
“I think everybody stopped breathing there for a minute, but Mac just said he got a Charley Horse on the side of his thigh,” Warner said
Gate City opened a 15-6 lead behind the 3-point shooting of 6-foot-5 junior Zac Ervin (18 points) and Dean. McClung was able to split the defense for innovative drives.
While fans squeezed for more room in the humid gym, GC built a 22-10 margin in the opening seconds of second quarter on another deep 3-pointer from Dean followed by a step-back jumper from McClung.
The first half ended in style as the 6-2 McClung converted a lob pass from Dean to give the Blue Devils a 39-22 advantage. The Bears were hurt by 10 turnovers in the first two quarters.
Union star James Mitchell (18 points) was active for the Bears, snatching up offensive rebounds and elevating over defenders for baseline drives and hooks while running the offense. But Gate City (15-1, 9-0) quickly applied double pressure when Mitchell posted up in the paint.
Dean dropped a pair 3-pointers from the top of the key to put GC up 51-26 midway through the third quarter. The rest of the night was all fun for the Blue Devils.
Instead of making GC fans celebrate with exotic dunks, McClung did his damage with a quick first step and body control on athletic drives.
After GC built a 60-30 margin through three quarters, a few fans worked their way out of the gym. Those fans missed a two-handed McClung jam set up by a teammate who bounced the ball off the top of the backboard.
“Gate City can score in bunches. You try to limit that, but they went on some pretty big runs tonight and we just couldn’t stop the bleeding,” said Union coach Zack Moore. “Those deep 3s, and just the 3s in general, hurt. We’re not going to play too many teams that can hit 14 3-pointers, but we will give [Dean] those type of shots again.
“You can’t get into a scoring contest with Gate City. We played the zone to force Gate City to shoot and we hoped that they missed enough. But tonight they made most of their shots.”
Five-foot-seven freshman Austin Rasnick added 13 points for Union, which was outscored 22-8 in the third quarter.
